Entries categorized "Ethics"

You may recall that on the opening day of the legislative session this year, lobbyist Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), and her allies in the anti-choice, anti-constitutional rights for women movement suffered a major defeat when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Arizona's petition to the court requesting review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature's 20-week abortion restrictions, Horne v. Isaacson (13-402).

On Monday, lobbyist Cathi Herrod and the CAP and its legal partner in the Christian Reconstructionist and Dominionist movement, the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), suffered another major defeat when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Arizona's petition to the court requesting review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Betlach v. Planned Parenthood (13-621) striking down the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. U.S. Supreme Court won’t revive Arizona abortion law:

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to consider a move to resurrect an Arizona law that would have disqualified abortion providers from receiving public funding for other medical services.

The high court declined to hear Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne’s appeal of a lower court ruling that blocked the 2012 law.

In an open letter to residents beginning with “Dear Arizona,” the Star Trek actor sarcastically congratulated them for becoming the “first state actually to pass a bill permitting businesses–even those open to the public–to refuse to provide service to LGBT people based on an individual’s ‘sincerely held religious belief.’”

“This ‘turn away the gay’ bill enshrines discrimination into the law. Your taxi drivers can refuse to carry us. Your hotels can refuse to house us. And your restaurants can refuse to serve us,” Takei wrote.

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“The law is breathtaking in its scope. It gives bigotry against us gays and lesbians a powerful and unprecedented weapon,” said Takei. “But your mean-spirited representatives and senators know this.” He added, “They also know that it is going to be struck down eventually by the courts. But they passed it anyway, just to make their hateful opinion of us crystal clear.”

Takei described his deep ties to the state; his husband Brad was born in Phoenix and the pair spends three weeks in Arizona every year on vacation to visit family and friends. But, Takei vowed to spend his time and tourist dollars elsewhere if this law gets the greenlight.

“If your Governor Jan Brewer signs this repugnant bill into law, make no mistake. We will not come. We will not spend. And we will urge everyone we know–from large corporations to small families on vacation–to boycott. Because you don’t deserve our dollars. Not one red cent.”

Sure 'nuf, here is the "editorial board" of the Arizona Republic arguing in favor of wage theft from retirees -- keep in mind this is deferred compensation that these employees bargained for in good faith and have earned by performing their end of the bargain. They are entitled to receive payment in exchange for their performance. Reform pensions or lose them:

The Arizona Supreme Court just handed an enormous past-due bill to taxpayers.

The state Legislature’s attempt in 2011 to rein in the costs of poorly performing pension plans is unconstitutional, according to the justices. The Arizona constitution forbids reducing public-pension benefits, which effectively means that no matter how high the costs go, taxpayers simply will have to find a way to pay them.

As a result, the pension board will have to pay out $7.9 million to bring the tab current for beneficiaries of the Elected Officials’ Retirement Plan, a part of the state’s worst performing pension trust, the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.

The ruling also applies to other beneficiaries of the PSPRS whose benefits were temporarily curtailed. That adds another $32.1 million for retroactive raises. The system will set aside $335.6 million to fund cost-of-living adjustments going forward.

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The 5-0 Supreme Court decision may be perfectly rational and predictable — a constitutionally guaranteed promise made must be kept, after all. But it leaves Arizona taxpayers in a position of disturbing vulnerability, one that begs for a constitutional amendment that will allow lawmakers to make the sorts of changes the justices now say they cannot.

Friends and allies, please join us as we continue the momentum in our community. This is an official daily rally that will continue throughout the week! Lets increase the crowds every day and make a stance loud and clear.

Folks have the option to meet at Wingspan, 430 E. 7th Street, Tucson, at 5:00 p.m. to walk downtown for a 5:30 rally. For those who want to park and rally at Granada and Congress, folks could meet there at 5:30 p.m. with placards and horns!

We will continue the rally on the following dates starting at 5:00 p.m.:

Our Tea-Publican lawless legislature has lost in court, again. This time it was our lawless legislature's attempt to overturn the constitutionality of the voter-approved citizens initiative creating the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), Prop. 106 (2000), to determine redistricting election boundaries rather than the state legislature. Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (CV12-01211-PHX-PGR).

I have previously explained that, based upon case law precedents, this should be a no-brainer for the court in favor of the AIRC. Arizona Legislature v. the AIRC court hearing this Friday. And it was, except for Justice Paul Rosenblatt, who agreed with part of the ruling, but argued the citizen initiative wrongly removed any power lawmakers would have to influence how the politically sensitive lines are drawn in his dissent. Justice Rosenblatt is simply wrong. It happens.

The Court granted defendant's Rule 12(b)(6) Motion for Failure to State a Claim, which is rare.

The Court's Ruling (.pdf) relies upon the case precedents I previously outlined, as the Court is bound to do:

The Supreme Court, however, has at least twice rejected the notion that when it comes to congressional redistricting the Elections Clause vests only in the legislature responsibilities relating to redistricting. Both cases found that states were not prohibited from designing their own lawmaking processes and using those processes for the congressional redistricting authorized by the Clause. In subsequent cases, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed that a state can place the redistricting function in state bodies other than the legislature.

The Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) stealth candidate for governor of Arizona is the only candidate yet to take a position on the Religious Bigotry bill. Cathi Herrod from CAP is on State Treasurer Doug Ducey's campaign steering committee (he proudly displays her endorsement on his campaign web site).

Most Republican gubernatorial candidates came out in opposition to SB1062. Secretary of State Ken Bennett was one of several who said the bill was unneeded to protect rights that already have sufficient protections.

“SB 1062 is an unnecessary measure to protect a God-given right already assured by the Constitution,” Bennett said in a press statement. “I strongly support religious freedom, but divisive measures such as these distract us from the most important challenges facing Arizona — jobs and economic development.”

Our lawless legislature continues to demonstrate its contempt for the citizens of Arizona and their constitutional right to refer an act of the legislature to the voters to decide in a citizens referendum ("citizens veto"). The larger context here is its utter contempt for democracy and the right to vote.

More than 140,000 Arizonans braved the heat of an Arizona summer to circulate and sign petitions to refer HB 2305, the GOP Voter Suppression Act, to the ballot in November to let the people decide on what the legislature enacted as a "strike everything" amendment in the dead of night when no one was watching. There was no public notice, and no public hearing before a committee.

The Arizona Senate has voted to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state’s permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates.

Majority Republicans who pushed House Bill 2305 through last June voted Thursday to repeal the law 17-12. The House passed an identical bill last week. The bill will now go to the governor.

The Tea-Publican controlled Arizona House passed the Religious Bigotry today, and conformed the bill to the Senate version passed yesterday. The bill will now be transmitted to Governor Jan Brewer. Contact Governor Brewer and tell her to veto this state-sanctioned discrimination bill, as she did last year. Arizona does not need another blacke eye like SB 1070.

The Legislature has given final approval to a controversial religion bill that’s spurring intense debate at the Legislature and across the country.

The legislation, written by the conservative advocacy group Center for Arizona Policy and the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, would allow individuals to use religious beliefs as a defense against a lawsuit.

Opponents have dubbed it the “right to discriminate” bill, and say it could prompt an economic backlash against the state, similar to what they say occurred when the state passed the controversial immigration law Senate Bill 1070 in 2010.

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The bill will be sent to Gov. Jan Brewer, who has five days to sign it into law, veto the bill or do nothing and allow it to become law.

The House calendar for the Committee of the Whole (COW) today includes Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's House version of the Religious Bigotry bill, HB 2153, passed by Tea-Publicans in the Senate on Wednesday. Business takes place this afternoon.

Where are the "Mythical Moderate Republicans" in the Republican Party establishment and the business community, in particular, the chamber organizations? The "Mythical Moderate Republican" Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) will have to vote on this bill. LD 9 will be watching, E.Orr.

Other bills on the COW Calendar in the House today of note:

HB 2012, Rep. John Kavanagh's "vexatious litigation" bill that somehow exempts the Arizona Legislature and the "Kochtopus" Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, who file more vexatious litigation than anyone else.

What century are we living in? For the second time (Governor Jan Brewer vetoed this bill last year) the Tea-Publicans in the Arizona Senate have passed the religious bigotry bill, which would allow individuals and businesses to deny public services based upon their "sincerely held religious beliefs." This is state-sanctioned segregation, pure and simple.

The Arizona Senate on Wednesday passed a bill backed by Republicans that expands the rights of people to assert their religious beliefs in refusing service to gays and others, a measure Democrats say will open the doors for discrimination and hurt the state economy.

The bill passed on a 17-13 party-line vote.

Democrats and civil rights groups opposed the bill that was pushed by social conservatives, saying it would allow discriminatory actions by businesses.

The Arizona Republic will never admit they were shamed into doing it by my constantly berating them for not reporting on Sean Noble and the "Kochtopus" dark money network operating in their own backyard in the state of Maricopa. But I am going to claim a small victory anyway.

State lawmakers took the first steps Tuesday to cut down on so-called “dark money’’ in political campaigns, but with no clear indication if their plan will work, or whether it’s even legal.

Legislation approved by the Senate Elections Committee requires all campaign commercials, literature and similar materials to include the names of the three largest contributors. Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, said it’s unacceptable that people can spend large amounts of money to influence elections and remain hidden.

On paper, the vote for SB 1403 was unanimous. But several GOP legislators, after hearing from lobbyists, said they fear the measure creates unnecessary hurdles.

And Sen. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, openly worried requiring people to get out from behind the committees they create to affect elections might chill their First Amendment rights to speak freely.

I previously posted about SCR 1003 (.pdf), a resoution which would refer a legislative ballot measure to the ballot that requires "the reauthorization of statewide initiative and referendum measures that create funds for public monies, dedicate public monies to a specific purpose or otherwise effect state General Fund (GF) revenues or expenditures."

Note that this reauthorizaton is not for all citizens initiative and referendum measures, just the ones the legislature does not like -- the ones that require the legislature to spend money on priorites decided by the voters, like heath care and education. This is the teabaggers' "I hate the Voter Protection Act" (Prop. 105 -1998) measure to undermine Prop. 105. The reauthorization applies retroactively to all specified statewide initiative and referendum measures approved on or after November 3, 1998.

The teabaggers want the opportunity to revisit and to reverse the laws that the citizens of Arizona enacted as a super-legislature exercising the powers reserved to the citizens under the Arizona Constitution and exercising their constitutional right to citizen initiative and referendum. This reauthorization provision would give opponents a second bite at the apple after seven (7) years. It would invite a perpetual campaign that seeks to undermine the legitimacy of laws enacted by the voters. The teabaggers are demonstrating their utter disdain for your constitutional rights and for democracy.

At the Feb. 19 study session and evening meeting, the Tucson City Council will consider two issues that could greatly affect bus service in our town.

During the study session, they will consider a proposal to increase bus fares. At the regular evening meeting, they will hear public comments about the proposed redevelopment of the Ronstadt Transit Center. (Proposals and background here.) In between these two meetings, the Tucson Bus Riders Union will have a rally outside of the City Council Chambers, beginning at 4 p.m. (Details and related articles below.)

ALEC's Stealth Convention

"AJR 81 comes right out of the 'Convention of States' workshop and materials presented at ALEC where state legislators were promised bundled campaign contributions and grassroots support if they joined this effort to amend the federal constitution," said Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat who attended ALEC's Annual Meeting in Chicago last summer, in a statement. "I am alarmed that this effort is now making its way through the Wisconsin legislature and is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the full Assembly next Tuesday."

The New York Times today has an update on the surprising move by the Tea-Publican controlled Senate in the Kansas legislature blocking the same model legislation for religious bigotry that is in the Arizona legislature. In Kansas, Right Joins Left to Halt Bill on Gays:

A bill that would have allowed individuals to refuse to provide business services to same-sex couples in Kansas because of religious beliefs met a surprising and quick end last week when conservative senators sided with liberal advocates in saying that the measure promoted discrimination.

The bill had passed the House, 72 to 49, last Wednesday and it appeared that it might also easily sail through the Senate. Both chambers are controlled by conservative Republicans who in recent years have passed some of the most conservative legislation in the country, whether on gun control, abortion rights or taxes.

Susan Wagle, a conservative Republican who is president of the Kansas Senate, raised opposition to the House measure, saying she had “grown concerned about the practical impact of the bill” and “my members don’t condone discrimination.”

Ms. Wagle was backed by Senator Jeff King, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who said he would not hold hearings on the House bill. Instead, Mr. King said, his committee would hold hearings on the broader topic of religious freedom in Kansas and explore whether the Legislature needed to take any further steps to shore up those protections.

The Arizona Republic frequently decries "dark money" organizations on its editorial page, but it oddly is limited to concern about public employee union "dark money" organizations that attacked their boy, Phoenix City councilman Sal Diciccio. It's funny (not) how little attention the Republic pays to the vast network hub of "dark money" organizations operating out of Maricopa County. Maybe it's because these people are their friends, neighbors and asssociates whom they hang out with at cocktail parties and political events.

About the only place you can find any reference to Sean Noble* and the "Kochtopus" dark money network he operates out of Maricopa County is here. This is a fundamental failure of the corporate news media to perform its constitutional function as the "watchdog of democracy."

For a brief, giddy moment, Sean Noble—a little-known former aide to Arizona congressman [John Shadegg]—became one of the most important people in American politics.

Plucked from obscurity by libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, Noble was tasked with distributing a torrent of political money raised by the Koch network, a complex web of nonprofits nicknamed the Kochtopus, into conservative causes in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Noble handed out almost $137 million in 2012 alone -- all of it so-called dark money from unnamed donors -- from his perch atop the Center to Protect Patient Rights, a group run out of an Arizona post office box.

Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star is writing the most recent iteration of the Political Notebook that Rhonda Bodfield and Daniel Scarpinato (now with the RNCC) before her used to write. God, I hated the Political Notebook!

Anyway, Timmeh takes issue with Blog for Arizona's Pamela Powers Hannley for taking issue with a recent column of his, correctly pointing out that Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) only nurtures the appearance of being a moderate but votes with his GOP caucus routinely.

I would make the point that the occasional departure vote does not make Orr a "moderate" or a RINO, any more than a Democrat casting the occasional departure vote makes him or her a Teabagger or a DINO. It is a voting record taken as a whole that matters.

Today's Steller column wastes everyone's time focusing on Facebook comments about his previous column with which Pamela Powers Hannley took issue. Yeah, that's not news. Too many political reporters are fixated with social media like Twitter and Facebook. It is not news.

Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has received bipartisan support in the Arizona Legislature, but Arizona's Congressional delegation appears to be lagging behind. Of Arizona's 11 Senators and Representatives, only two-- Southern Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva (D- CD3) and Ron Barber (D- CD2)-- have signed on to co-sponsor legislation to remove the ERA's ratification deadline.

There are two Congressional bills to remove the ratification deadline. In the House, HJ Res 43 has 104 cosponsors (including Grijalva and Barber), and in the Senate, SJ Res 15 has 34 cosponsors.

The ERA was introduced during every Congressional session between 1923 (when it was originally proposed) and 1972. It finally passed Congress nearly 70 years after it was originally introduced. In the 1970s, there was a ground war at the state level to get 38 state legislatures to ratify the ERA in order for it to become a Constitutional Amendment. The ERA fell 3 states short of ratification; Arizona is one of a handful of states that never ratified the ERA. (Contact and Twitter info for Arizona's Congressional delegation after the jump.)

More than 140,000 Arizona citizens signed petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to refer the legislature's anti-democratic measure to the voters in a referendum.

Tea-Publicans, fearing retaliation from the voters in November, are moving to deny Arizona citizens their constitutional right to vote on this citizens-referred referendum -- making it a two-fer for voter suppression, and demonstrating their utter disdain for your constitutional rights.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted for SB 1270 (.pdf), the Senate version of Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, on a party-line 6-3 vote. It now goes to the Rules Committee.

This gun worshiper's wet dream "Declares federal law that violates the Second Amendment invalid and void in Arizona and prohibits state and local enforcement of federal firearm laws within the state."Howard Fischer reports, Senate panel moves forward on broad gun legislation:

State lawmakers sent a warning Monday to local officials: Do anything to help the federal government enforce its guns laws and find yourself out on the street.

The legislation approved on a 6-3 vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee declares that all federal acts, laws, orders, rules and regulations that violate the “true meaning and intent of the Second Amendment are invalid and void in this state.” SB 1294 also forbids the use of state personnel or resources to enforce those rules.

There is an ideological perfect storm brewing in the Arizona Legislature. A memorandum supporting extension of the ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been assigned to a committee where five out of seven members have pledged to protect and fight for the rights of fetuses over the rights of women.

Not content with winning the right to vote in 1920, women’s rights advocates proposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) 91 years ago. The ERA was introduced during every Congressional session between 1923 and 1972 and finally passed nearly 70 years after it was originally proposed. In the 1970s, there was a ground war at the state level to get 38 state legislatures to ratify the ERA in order for it to become a Constitutional Amendment. The ERA fell 3 states short of ratification; Arizona is one of a handful of states that never ratified the ERA.

HCM2006 Sponsors

Fast forward to 2013, the ground war for women’s equality has resumed at the state level with ERA ratification proposals six states– Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, and now … Arizona.; Nevada and North Carolina plan to hear it in 2014. LD9 Rep. Victoria Steele has introduced HCM2006, a memorandum from the State of Arizona asking the federal government to extend the deadline for ratification of the ERA, and HCR2016, a fill to ratify the ERA.

In addition to Steele, the ERA memorandum has 18 co-sponsors– including two Republican women, Kelly Townsend (LD14) and Karen Fann (LD1). Below is the complete list. Although Southern Arizona is well-represented on this list with Steele, Wheeler, Gabaldon, Saldate, and Pencrazi, where are the rest of the Democrats and the “moderate” Repulbican? (Should I name names, or can you figure out who’s missing here? If you live in LD9, LD10, LD2, or LD3, you might want to ask your representatives and senators why their names are missing from this list.)

A new global poll surveying the world’s Catholics finds that most of them don’t agree with the Church’s strict positions on issues of reproductive health. Specifically, most Catholics around the world actually support birth control and abortion rights — two “family values” issues that the Catholic hierarchy opposes.

One of my favorite moments during the 2012 Republican presidential contest came when Ron Paul, fresh from his strong showing in Iowa, triumphantly told his supporters: “We’re all Austrians now!”

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Of course those in the know, particularly Ron Paul’s enthusiasts, understood the libertarian presidential candidate’s reference: that Americans were rejecting the economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes that encouraged government intervention and provided intellectual ballast for the New Deal. Instead, they were coming around to the principles of the anti-government economics of AustriansFriedrich A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.

[I]t’s difficult to find a better example of the hardhearted, softheaded nature of today’s G.O.P. than what happened last week, as Senate Republicans once again used the filibuster to block aid to the long-term unemployed.

What do we know about long-term unemployment in America?

First, it’s still at near-record levels. Historically, the long-term unemployed — those out of work for 27 weeks or more — have usually been between 10 and 20 percent of total unemployment. Today the number is 35.8 percent. Yet extended unemployment benefits, which went into effect in 2008, have now been allowed to lapse. As a result, few of the long-term unemployed are receiving any kind of support.

The "meth lab of democracy," the far-right Tea-Publican controlled Arizona legislature, feels free to engage in their batshit crazy legislation because: (1) the Arizona political media does not shine a bright light on the crazy shit they are doing and call them out for it, and (2) there is no organized public opposition to publicly shame them for doing it.

The citizens of Arizona have been beaten down for so long by the far-right that many citizens are apothetic and have abandoned hope. Which is exactly what the forces of evil want. As Edmund Burke warned, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

So where are the religious and civic leaders of Arizona willing to stand up to the intellectually bankrupt and morally depraved "meth lab of democracy" far-right Tea-Publican controlled Arizona legislature? I have explained why Arizona needs a 'Moral Mondays' movement. This requires the moral suasion of religious leaders and civic leaders. Why do you continue to sit on the sidelines in comfortable complacency and surrender to your apathy? Stand up and fight for justice and what is morally right!

The job of the Attorney General of the state is to conduct investigations and to prosecute trials. Arizona's Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne must have misunderstood the job description, because since he has been in office he has been under investigation and is being prosecuted at trial. The man is a disgrace and embarassment to lawyers and law enforcement. If he had any sense of morality and decency, he would have resigned his office long ago -- and saved the taxpayers of Arizona the expense of investigating and prosecuting him.

The labyrinthian design of the political network backed by the Koch brothers and their fellow conservative donors serves several purposes, but one of the biggest is to ensure the privacy of its financial backers. As we detailed last month, the money flows through a complex maze of tax-exempt groups and limited liability corporations, creating multiple barriers that shield the identities of the donors. Such anonymous contributions should be allowed, Charles Koch has argued, to protect people from the attacks that he and his brother David and their company have fielded. Critics say the Kochs and their allies seek to influence elections without accountability.

Now a document published by Mother Jones provides a rare glimpse inside the closely held network. The spreadsheet -- apparently left behind by a guest who attended a recent Koch-sponsored donor seminar at a resort outside Palm Springs – lists the names of more than 40 top donors, along with the senior Koch officials they met with during the three-day conclave.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a test vote on Thursday to extend long-term unemployment insurance benefits after having rejected Republican requests that they be allowed to propose a number of "poison pill" amendments to the Democratic bill. Reid sets up test vote on jobless aid:

Democrats controlling the Senate have set up a test vote on Thursday for the party’s new plan to extend unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for more than six months.

The latest plan would extend long-term jobless benefits for three months at a cost of almost $7 billion, paid for by a tweak to pension law that Republicans call a gimmick.

Democrats don’t expect the measure to get enough GOP support to overcome a filibuster threshold of 60 votes. Democrats control the Senate with 55 votes and so far expect just three Republicans to join with them. They are Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

I would encourage you to call our senators, but we all know how these two losers will vote. By the way, in a real democracy without the tyranny of the minority engaging in obstruction and filibuster, this bill would have already passed the Senate.

On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to oppose the Rosemont Mine in Pima County. Supervisors OK formal objection to Rosemont Mine. "The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to send the Forest Service a formal objection to the agency’s tentative approval of the mine and its final environmental impact statement. The letter is expected to compel the federal agency to respond to Pima County’s long list of concerns over the planned copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains."

So Rosemont Mine and its supporters have proposed a novel idea: they will seize part of Pima County and give it to to Santa Cruz County, where they apparently believe people are more amenable to being bought off with Canadian "loonie" to approve their mine. This is some in-your-face corruption.

State Sen. Gail Griffin on Tuesday breathed life into a bid to bring Green Valley, Sahuarita and the mines into Santa Cruz County, though the idea hasn't proven popular locally.

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Griffin said she introduced the bill at the request of constituents, doesn't expect to have trouble getting it through the Legislature, and wants to hear “about any possible unintended consequences” it may bring about.

Griffin, a Republican whose District 14 skirts the eastern edge of Green Valley, introduced SB 1357, which would put a boundary change to a vote in Santa Cruz County and to those affected in southern Pima County.

That "constituent" is Emmit McGloughlin, " a former Tucson City Council member who now lives in Sonoita, and formed the Santa Cruz County Committee for Quality Jobs more than a year ago to explore moving the county line from Amado to Pima Mine Road, which is where Griffin's bill would put it."

The compromise "farm bill," which provides the appropriations for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aka food stamps, survived a vote in the Tea-Publican House today. Last year a similar bill was defeated by Tea-Publicans in the House who felt the bill was not draconian and punitive enough towards the takers poor.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill authorizing nearly $1 trillion in spending on farm subsidies and nutrition programs, setting the stage for final passage of a new five-year farm bill that has been stalled for over two years.

Negotiators from the House and Senate spent several weeks working out their differences on issues in the legislation, including cuts to food stamps, income caps on farm subsidies and a price support program for dairy farmers. The bill is expected to save about $16.6 billion over the next 10 years.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 251 to 166. The Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week.

Compared with earlier, more contentious votes on the farm bill, Wednesday’s vote was largely bipartisan. Many Democrats who had opposed it because of cuts to the food stamp program supported it on Wednesday. A number of Republicans, including many who wanted deeper cuts to the food stamps, also voted for the bill’s passage.

The party faithful of the Arizona Democratic and Republican Parties gathered on Saturday, January 25, 2014 in Maricopa County for their respective State Committee Meetings. State law requires official political parties to meet quarterly. Precinct committee people, state and county party leaders, elected officials, and candidates gather to discuss strategy, issues, money, and candidates.

The outcomes of those two meetings show the STARK differences between Arizona's two major political parties. (Even where the two parties met shows their ideological differences. Democrats met in a public high school; Republicans met in a church.)

At the Arizona Democratic Party's (ADP) State Committee Meeting, the ADP continued to show its progressive side, unanimously endorsing a resolution against fracking. With only two dissenting votes, ADP also endorsed a resolution supporting the marijuana legalization initiative, Safer Arizona, which was endorsed by ADP's Progressive Caucus at the November 2013 State Committee Meeting. (BTW, if you support legalization, help them out by signing and circulating petitions and/or donating money.)

A resolution barring the ADP from accepting funds from members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was endorsed by the ADP's progressive caucus on Saturday, as was the fracking resolution. When proposed to the entire State Committee, it was tabled.

Politicians and energy industry enthusiasts have touted fracking as the path to US energy independence, while environmentalists have battled against the proliferation of fracking and the resultant damage to the Earth. Despite environmental concerns, 18 states have jumped onto the fracking bandwagon (map.)

Fracking now is being blamed for an outbreak of earthquakes in North Texas, the explosion (pun intended) of crude oil train disasters across the country, and water contamination in four states. (Fracking accident map pictured here.)

I cleared my schedule so I could watch the House Judiciary Committee debate two controversial bills this morning, but after a late start it was announced that the bills had been pulled from the agenda to "work on language." I hate when that happens!

-- House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny the citizens of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum (and to clear the way for the GOP to enact other voter suppression bills this session).

-- House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2153 (.pdf), the House version of Sen. Steve Yarbrough's (R-Chandler) religious bigotry bill, SB 1062 (.pdf), for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), which would effectively give a license to any individual -- and to any corporation, association, foundation or other fictional legal entity ("corporations are people my friend") -- the right to discriminate against others simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs." This is an attempt to eviscerate state and federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination. Ostensibly about "hatin' on the gays," Sen. Yarbrough acknowledged there may be individuals who have religious beliefs about unmarried women, or even employing people who do not share their same beliefs.

In the wee hours of the 2013 session of the Arizona Legislature, Republican legislators cobbled together several voter suppression initiatives that had gone no where and passed them (at the urging of House Speaker John Boehner) as an omnibus voter suppression bill (HB2305).

During the summer, outraged Arizonans collected 145,000 signatures to halt implementation of HB2305 until the people voted on it in 2014.

Hell bent on cheating their way into office… er… voter suppression, a group of legislators now wants to circumvent a statewide vote on HB2305 by repealing HB2305 and re-introducing its component parts for potential passage in the 2014 session.

Below is a press release from the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee. It’s time to make some phone calls -- especially to Ethan Orr (LD9)-- and tell your representatives that if they want to pass a voter initiative it should be a bill that guarantees the right to vote– not a set of bills that will deny citizens their rights.

First Step in Effort to Circumvent Protect Your Right to Vote Referendum

PHOENIX -- The Legislature will attempt on Thursday to revive a massive effort to make it more difficult for Arizonans to vote in 2014, a plan that had been put on ice by a successful citizen’s referendum during the summer.

The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee referendum gathered over 146,000 signatures to put the omnibus House Bill 2305 – which would prevent tens of thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots if it becomes law – to a statewide vote in 2014. According to recent media reports, incumbent lawmakers bent on getting tough with voters intend to circumvent the referendum vote by first repealing HB2305, and then re-passing the various voter roadblocks as new individual bills this session.

Step one begins Thursday morning when the House Judiciary Committee hears House Bill 2196, which repeals last session’s HB2305. Judiciary Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Mesa, is the sponsor of both bills. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4, 1700 W. Washington Street.

Senate Democrats have decided to do something about the self-dealing by state legislators to line their own pockets, filing SB 1068 (.pdf), a bill which should go by the popular name of The Steve Yarbrough Disclosure Act.

[T]he bills are pouring in already, 50 introduced in the House, 76 in the Senate at the time of this writing.

And two are colliding with each other already.

One is SB 1068, sponsored by a bunch of Democratic senators, including Tempe’s Ed Ableser. Here’s what it calls for:

A legislator who casts a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives or the Senate with respect to any bill, memorial or resolution in which the legislator has a direct financial interest shall prepare a written statement that identifies the bill, memorial or resolution, the legislator’s vote and the nature of the legislator’s direct financial interest. The legislator shall file the statement with the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate. The statement shall be posted on the internet web page corresponding to the legislator as found on the legislature’s website. The Web page for each legislator shall have an area entitled 'Disclosure of Direct Financial Interest' for each statement to be posted.

In other words, if my representative floats a bill and will have a direct financial benefit from that bill’s passage, he must file a statement explaining how it benefits him.

In other news you never see reported in Arizona's GOP-friendly media, California has yet to receive the $15 million in penalties imposed on "Kochtopus" dark money campaign organizations after an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission into secret political donations last year by the Phoenix-based Center to Protect Patient Rights, run by GOP political consultant Sean Noble, tied to billionaire Republican contributors Charles and David Koch.

State authorities have yet to receive $15 million in penalties they imposed on campaign groups after a headline-making investigation into secret political donations.

The money is owed to California's general fund, where it could support government programs.

Two Arizona nonprofits paid $1 million in fines for their role in hiding the source of political cash sent to California in 2012. But the two campaign groups that received and spent the money were ordered to pay $15 million and have sent nothing — seven weeks after the Nov. 30 deadline.

Earlier this month I told you about the bill by Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Litchfield Park) to make it illegal for government to “require a minister to solemnize a marriage inconsistent with a minister's sincerely held religious beliefs.” A solution in search of a non-existent problem. As I said at the time:

I commend Rep. Montenegro for trying to keep his measure as narrow as possible. The New Mexico wedding photographer case he cites is an example of an individual claiming an overly broad definition of "religious liberty" to essentially assert a license to discriminate against members of the public. This is a slippery slope which can easily be abused to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex and religion simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs." If this wedding photographer had refused services to African-Americans or Jews, or to Arab-Americans and Muslims instead of "the gays," he would have been rightly condemned as a bigot. A "get out of jail free card" for compliance with laws based upon the mere assertion of "sincerely held religious beliefs" leads to anarchy.

Both The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star rely heavily on the Washington Post for reporting and syndicated columnists. But the editors are highly selective in the reports they choose to publish. For example, neither Arizona newspaper thought it newsworthy to publish the big investigative report by Matea Gold in the Washington Post on Monday about the evil bastard Koch brothers. Hmmm, is Arizona's GOP-friendly media still protecting Sean Noble and the "Kochtopus" dark money laundering organization Center to Protect Patient Rights? Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012:

The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors, according to an analysis of new tax returns and other documents.

The filings show that the network of politically active nonprofit groups backed by the Kochs and fellow donors in the 2012 elections financially outpaced other independent groups on the right and, on its own, matched the long-established national coalition of labor unions that serves as one of the biggest sources of support for Democrats.

The resources and the breadth of the organization make it singular in American politics: an operation conducted outside the campaign finance system, employing an array of groups aimed at stopping what its financiers view as government overreach. Members of the coalition target different constituencies but together have mounted attacks on the new health-care law, federal spending and environmental regulations.

Key players in the Koch-backed network have already begun engaging in the 2014 midterm elections, hiring new staff members to expand operations and strafing House and Senate Democrats with hard-hitting ads over their support for the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats in Arizona now have a primary race for Secretary of State -- the chief elections officer in Arizona. Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor (LD 16) is joined by former Attorney General Terry Goddard as of Monday. Democrat Goddard to run for secretary of state.

On the Republican side we have the co-author of the GOP Voter Supression Act, HB 2305, Sen. Michele Reagan (subject to a "citizens veto" referendum on the 2014 ballot), Rep. Justin Pierce, former state Sen. Jack Harper, and self-funded millionaire Wil Cardon.

So let me lay down some markers of what I expect to hear from the candidates in the way of policy proposals for election law in Arizona.

In a universal voter registration system, it would be the government's obligation to ensure that every eligible citizen was registered to vote. Individual citizens could opt out if they wished, but the registration process itself would no longer serve as a barrier to the right to vote.

Here are some of the important ways that federal policy can and should encourage the states to improve on the current voter registration system:

1. Mandate that the states put systems in place that would phase in universal voter registration, while preserving the states' ability to experiment with different systems.

2. Require states to immediately implement permanent registration, so that voters wouldn't have to re-register if they moved within a state.

3. Require states to implement Election Day registration, as a fail-safe mechanism for eligible voters missing from the voter rolls for any reason.

4. Provide the federal funding that states would need to ensure that every eligible voter is registered.

In 2013, Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown came within one vote in the state senate of passage of House Bill 3521, a universal voter registation bill, when a Democratic senator balked at voting for the bill. Secretary Brown promises to bring this bill back again in 2014.

As one year comes to a close and another begins, people often look back at events to reflect and perhaps resolve to improve their lives or change their behaviors in the coming year. In 2013, the Do-Nothing-at-All Congress-- led by the nose by Teapublicans-- continued its war on the poor-- fighting forcuts to food stamps and unemployment and fighting for austerity for the 99%, while disingenuously padding the pockets of their corporate benefactors.

As Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs teaches us, people must satisfy their basic needs before they can become fully self-actualized, before they can reach their full potential. To put this simply, if you don't have food, water, and shelter, your time, energy and resources will be spent obtaining those basic needs. Until you have security and the necessities of life, you will not have the luxury to worry about trifles-- Christmas gifts, video game releases, wine selections, fancy coffee, designer-label clothes, insignificant social snubs, political differences-- in other words, "white people problems".

After all the blood and treasure this country has expended in America's longest war in Afghanistan, and the unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq, there is still a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators who dream of the next war with Iran.

They won't fight this war of course; and neither will their children. They will send your sons and daughters to die in a war that will drag on at least as long, if not longer, than Afghanistan. And when the inevitable retaliatory terrorist attacks occur, well, that will just serve as a rallying cry for more war. Because there is big money to be made in war, damnit! These senate war mongers want to get their war on with Iran. The fact that this includes Democrats is enraging.

A bipartisan group of 26 senators introduced legislation Thursday that threatened new sanctions against Iran, dismissing warnings from the White House that such a move could scuttle efforts to peacefully resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

The bill, called the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, drew a rebuke from the Obama administration and highlighted deep divisions among Senate Democrats on whether to heap new pressures on Tehran’s government while sensitive diplomacy is underway.

Hours after the bill’s introduction, a separate group of senior Democrats revealed in a letter that U.S. intelligence agencies had cautioned lawmakers in private briefings about the consequences of new sanctions. A Dec. 10 intelligence assessment had concluded that new punitive measures would “undermine the prospects for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran,” according to the letter, signed by 10 Democrats.

I have to admit that I was surprised by how quickly the Arizona Supreme Court entered its order setting aside the injunction of the Court of Appeals and agreed with the arguments of the "Kochtopus" Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, on higher campaign finance limits. It's as if there was no deliberation at all and the minds of the Justices were already made up before oral argument. That does not look good for appearance sake.

With its order allowing the higher campaign finance limits to go into effect, State Supreme Court lifts campaign finance limits, the Arizona Supreme Court has effectively ruled on the case despite the fact that a trial on the merits is pending before Superior Court Judge Mark Brain in the Maricopa County Superior Court. I am not sure what purpose would be served by proceeding with this litigation, other than to allow the "Kochtopus" Death Star to make its argument that there should be no campaign finance limits at all because "money=speech," under its gross distortion of the First Amendment.

Five years after the "masters of the universe," the banksters of Wall Sreet, who nearly collapsed the world's financial system and destroyed our economy with their reckless casino capitalism by engaging in risky speculative bets on securitized mortgages, derivatives, credit default swaps, etc., the final "Volcker Rule" to prohibit such risky speculative bets by the banksters of Wall Street using your federally insured customer deposits has finally been approved. Final Volcker Rule limits on bank trading released by regulators:

Government regulators adopted a sweeping rule Tuesday to prevent big banks from trading for their benefit rather than on behalf of customers, three years after the Obama administration called for the measure.

The “Volcker Rule,” named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, bars banks from making trades merely for profit and prohibits them from owning hedge funds and private-equity funds. The centerpiece of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law took years to complete as government infighting and intense lobbying by banks slowed the process.

Lawmakers devised the measure to prevent banks with government backstops such as deposit insurance from making risky trades for their own benefit, because the bets could endanger taxpayers. The challenge for regulators has been restricting such proprietary trading without impeding acceptable practices, such as firms trading on behalf of clients as market-makers or hedging their risk against fluctuations in interest rates.

On Tuesday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board as well as the Federal Reserve unanimously approved the final version of the rule. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3 to 2 in favor, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted it with a 3 to 1 vote.

Supervision will ultimately be the responsibility of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the CFTC and the SEC.

In blocking Judge Robert L. Wilkins’s nomination on Monday, Senate Tea-Publicans denied President Obama his third pick in recent weeks to fill one of the vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, second in importance to the U.S. Supreme Court. Another Obama Court Nominee Blocked by G.O.P.:

Senate Republicans on Monday blocked President Obama’s third consecutive nominee to the country’s most powerful and prestigious appeals court and insisted they would not back down, inflaming a bitter debate over a president’s right to shape the judiciary.

By a vote of 53 to 38, the Senate failed to break a filibuster of Robert L. Wilkins, a federal judge who was nominated to fill one of three vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, falling seven votes short of the 60 needed. Two Republicans — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — voted with the Democrats.

The impasse over Mr. Wilkins followed Republican blockades of two other candidates for the court since Oct. 31. Unlike previous fights over judicial nominees, the dispute is not as much about the judges’ individual political leanings as it is about the overall ideological makeup of the court. Republicans have raised few objections to the three candidates’ qualifications or legal positions.

Rather, Republicans are seeking to prevent Mr. Obama from filling any of the three existing vacancies on the 11-seat court, fearing that he will alter its conservative tilt. The court has immense political importance because it often rules on questions involving White House and federal agency policy.

My apologies to Alfred Hitchcock for the wordplay on his brilliant adaption of "The 39 Steps."

No apologies are owed, however, to the 39 Democratic "squishes" in the House who voted for Rep. Fred Upton’s “Keep Your Health Plan Act.” Their defections were pointless. This Tea-Publican messaging bill will not get a hearing in the Senate, and even if it did somehow get a vote, President Obama has promised to veto it.

As Steve Benen observed, "[W]hat was the point of all of this effort? It boils down to Republican 'messaging' goals, which some party leaders consider more important than anything else."

It’s easy to be mad at President Obama over health care reform – the broken website, the confusing choices, his false promise that everyone could keep their current plans.

But it’s still hard to fathom why 39 Democrats voted for a bill in the House that would allow people to retain current, substandard individual policies, and renew them next year even if they don’t provide the basic coverage required by the Affordable Care Act. (You have to wonder, to start, whether they actually read the act before they voted for it, the same question I’d like to ask of Mr. Obama and his team. The changed requirements were in that law.)

Perhaps it was just a protest vote, a freebie based on the lawmakers’ certainty that the Senate will never take up or pass this ridiculous bill. But did those Democrats know what they were voting for this time around?

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